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July 15, 2007 - 6:00 pm |
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Sermon
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Reverend David S. HufferWestwood Baptist
Church - 2124 Davis Road
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II Timothy 4: 2
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The Message You Preach II Timothy 4:2 (Licensing Service for Michael Hevener)
On any given Sunday here at Westwood, we have several visitors in our service – Just as you will have at Adial Baptist Church. · We have some who have attended before, but are not members of our church · It is important that we let them know that our church is different from other churches in our area in many different ways. 1. We are different because of our understanding of the purpose of the church. · It isn’t a social club or a political organization here to reform the world · It is a Lighthouse, a Beacon on the Corner, pointing men, women, boys, and girls to the Cross of Calvary and the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. We are different because we emphasize world-wide missions. · We presently support the Nkoya Partnership Mission with Deerfield Baptist Church and Calvary Baptist Church. · Along with strong support for the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention. · We spend close to $20,000 a year on “Doing Missions” – To God Be The Glory! 3. We are Different because of our stand on the Word of God! · We believe that the 39 books of the Old Testament and the Twenty-Seven books of the New Testament compose the complete written revelation of God to man. (Rev. 22:18- 22) · We believe that every Word of Scripture is God-breathed. (II Tim. 3:16) · We believe that God used men, moved by the Holy Spirit, to write every Word of Scripture (1 Peter 1:20-21) · We believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God completely free from error, contradiction, or human corruption. (Psalms 19:7-8) · We believe the Bible to be infallible (Psalms 199:105) and the Bible is our supreme authority in every aspect of life and can be trusted completely. There are many ways that we are different, but perhaps one of themost obvious ways that we are different is because of the message we preach! MICHAEL – I pray tonight that as you have been called by God to preach His Word and to Shepherd His flock, people will know you are different because of the message that you preach. READ II TIMOTHY 4:2 - AGAIN
THE MESSAGE YOU PREACH IS IMPERATIVE! A. To young Timothy the apostle Paul did not ask him to preach the Word, he COMMANDED him to preach the Word!
B. Preaching the Gospel was the center of Paul’s ministry. · 1 Cor. 1:17 Paul says: “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel…” · He writes to Titus and tells him that God “…hath in due times manifested His Word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior.” · In the final orders given to the local church prior to His ascension into Heaven, Jesus said: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) C. The preaching of God’s Word is commanded by God’s Word! · It is imperative READ 1 COR. 1:18-23 · To the Greeks – with all their philosophy – they thought it was foolish. · To the Jews – with their religious traditions and rituals – the preaching of the cross was a stumbling block. · There are those today who think it is foolish 1. Some say it is just too simple to believe that Jesus died in our place that we may have life. 2. To others it is offensive, because it goes against their religious traditions and thinking STORY – Two men were discussing the message following a service in a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church. · One said: “I don’t care for that preacher.” He stands in the pulpit and speaks as if he were speaking for God Almighty!” · The other said: “You don’t know it, but you just paid him the greatest compliment possible! For you see, that is why he is there.” MICHAEL – Remember the message you preach is imperative!
THE MESSAGE YOU PREACH IS PERSONAL! A. It Centers Around One Person – Jesus Christ 1 COR. 15:3-4 – “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received; that Christ died for our sins according to Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures.” · Paul preached the simple Gospel: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ – according to the Scriptures! · Jesus Christ is the central figure in the Bible! · All doctrine surrounds HIS person · Every portion of the Word of God draws us to see the Lord Jesus Christ · 2 Cor. 4:5 – “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake.” · 1 Cor. 2:2 – “For I determined not to know any thin among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
This was the thrust of all N.T preaching · Acts 5:2 – “They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” · Acts 8:5 – “Then Phillip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ to them.” · Scriptures tell us in Acts 11:20 that as the Jerusalem church scattered abroad due to persecution – “They went preaching the Lord Jesus.” MICHAEL – The message you preach needs to be a personal message about the person Jesus Christ – because what Christ did on Calvary – He did for every person!
THE MESSAGE YOU PREACH IS POWERFUL! A. Powerful because the Word of God is powerful! · Heb. 4:12 – “For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” · This is not a dead book! AMEN! · We do not preach a dead message! AMEN! MICHAEL - The message we preach is powerful because it brings life to that which is dead! · John 11:25 – “Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” B. Powerful Because Of The Holy Spirit · The Power in your preaching does not come through the greatness of the preacher – through his style – or through his personality. · The power comes through the Holy Spirit · 1 Cor. 2:4-5 – “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” MICHAEL – When this is true – the result will be a powerful faith in those who believe. · Education, experience, and eloquence mean nothing without the power of the Spirit. · As the Word of God is preached in the power of the Spirit of God – GOD begins to work in a service to bring about His blessings.
The message you preach is powerful: · not because you are powerful, · but because His Word and His Spirit work together to bring about the salvation of the lost, · and brings conviction to hearts of those who believe.
THE MESSAGE YOU PREACH IS PRACTICAL! A. Something is practical if it has been tried and proven to work the way that it should
B. It is practical because it does exactly what God intended it to do · 1 Cor. 1:21b – “… it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” · God could have chosen any number of ways to communicate His message to a lost and dying world, but He was pleased to use preaching. C. It Is A Practical Message Because Anyone Can Understand It · Little children to senior citizens can understand its message of love and compassion · We often call the Gospel – God’s simple plan of salvation · SIMPLE – uncomplicated because God is not willing that any should perish, but that all might come to repentance. · John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
CLOSE
MICHAEL – The message is imperative – It is Personal – It is Powerful – and It is Practical.
God has chosen you to preach it!
“Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
May God Bless You And Speak Through You Every Time You Step In His Pulpit! AMEN!
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